'Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance' Recap: Week 4

Thanks to last week’s tribe switch up, Peih-Gee was sent packing, Tasha and Savage took control of Angkor, Varner turned up the charm to continue escaping the vote, and Abi was left fuming after Woo wrote her name down. Again.

Back at camp later that night, Varner thanked everyone for keeping him and especially sucked up to Tasha and Savage, admitting to the camera that he’ll say anything in order to stay safe. Speaking of saying anything, Abi didn’t take too kindly to Tasha talking with Woo, so of course there was a confrontation. When Tasha said that she had Abi’s back and didn’t see what the problem was in having a conversation with someone outside of their alliance, Abi then turned on poor Woo and made him apologize for coming after her.

Honestly, all of this drama is so draining to watch, so it’s no wonder that the tribe itself is running on E. With hardly any resources since the switch up, Angkor is not eating much and therefore not feeling great, meaning that any boost in morale is desperately needed.

Cue the reward challenge: The tribe that places first wins a barbecue set with complimentary meat and veggies. The tribe that places second wins a smaller version of the first place prize, minus the meat. The only catch is that each tribe can only pick one member to run the entire course. Thus began an epic battle between Savage (Angkor), Jeremy (Bayon), and Terry (Ta Keo). Somehow, Savage channeled all of his exhaustion into a come-from-behind victory, while Terry won second place. With food in their bellies, Angkor couldn’t wait to compete in the next immunity challenge.

Blindfolded challenges with callers and seekers are my favorite kind of Survivor challenge. I love watching how each team works together, how quickly communication breaks down, and of course, the collisions. As usual this competition didn’t disappoint! Unfortunately, my beloved Ta Keo tribe was dead last in the earlier part of the challenge. Normally, terror would have gripped my heart, but I was too busy laughing at the absurdity of their approach. Ta Keo caller Kass couldn’t focus on more than one seeking pair at a time (a problem when there are four people out on the course at once). Keith couldn’t hear her shouting commands through the blindfold, so he had to free his ear so he could listen. And poor Terry wandered around aimlessly, even raising his hand at one point for Kass to realize that he needed some direction. It really was a hot mess until Joe came to the rescue, taking it upon himself to gather the remaining pieces so Ta Keo could stand a chance. All the teams were pretty equally matched with the blindfolds on, but the minute they came off, Bayon assembled its puzzle in the blink of an eye, with Ta Keo close behind, but Angkor didn’t even have enough energy to attempt to put theirs together.

There was a lot of scrambling back at Angkor’s camp, but the fight to stay really intensified at tribal council. The vote came down between Varner and Woo. Abi was adamant that Woo should go home since he had voted against her, but Tasha and Savage felt that Varner was more dangerous since he could easily manipulate others. That was plainly obvious as Varner kept feeding Abi’s paranoia that Woo wasn’t loyal. He also stressed that he himself wasn’t a physical threat compared to Woo.

Poor Woo sat there dumbfounded - as did probably all of America at this point. It’s not that hard to understand: in order for a team to make it to the merge and then pick off the physical threats, you have to first make it to the merge. And you won’t be doing that if you keep the injured guy over the healthy one. Plus, all that talk of loyalty was sickening. We know full well that Varner is loyal to no one but himself, while poor Woo is so loyal that he always jeopardizes his game staying true to his word.

Thankfully, Abi came to her senses and decided to vote out Varner along with the others. I don’t even want to imagine the drama that would have unfolded had her alliance voted differently than what she wanted. Hopefully this means Angkor won’t get decimated going forward.

Other highlights included:

• Kass’ handmade birthday gift for Kelley - Kelley became suspicious when she saw Kass sneaking around camp playing with some beads and immediately thought Kass was making a fake immunity idol. (Not that I see a reason for Kelley to worry since she has the real one.) Which made the moment that Kass presented her with the necklace even more priceless…

• Spencer throwing Wiglesworth under the bus in order to make her seem like a bigger threat than he is. Unfortunately for you Spencer, Monica’s on to you…

• Jeremy sending Fishbach on a wild goose chase for the idol - Jeremy found the idol during last week’s immunity challenge, but he doesn’t want Fishbach to find out.

What did you think of tonight’s episode?